But C.M. Russell High senior Dan Enseleit is in good company now as the northcentral Montana male soccer player of the year.

His favorite moment?

“There is not one particular moment,” said Enseleit. “Mostly, traveling with the team on buses was always fun. Winning games on the road was a great feeling. Those were my best memories.”

Enseleit combined great intelligence with ultra-quick reflexes to help the Rustlers from the back.

He wasn’t always a keeper.

“Scoring goals when I was in Mini-Bolts was fun, but once I got older, I had more fun blocking goals. I don’t know, I just felt more comfortable in goal,” he said.

He moved to the position in middle school when his club team didn’t have a keeper.

It can be tough since everyone on the field and sidelines knows when a keeper makes a mistake, but Enseleit said he got used to the pressure.

“Eventually, I found that the only way to play on is to get over your mistakes,” he said. “I found if I started dwelling on mistakes, I made more mistakes in that game.”

Enseleit played a year of junior varsity as a freshman before taking the starting spot his sophomore year, where he helped CMR to the state tournament his sophomore and junior years. The Rustlers fell short in his final campaign.

“I was a pretty sad moment,” he said. “One of my lowest moments in soccer, but it was still a good year. I just wish we could have made it to state.”

It was a rare tough moment for Enseleit, who carries a 3.96 grade-point average, is a superior sax player and plans to study engineering at Montana State in the fall.

He plans to play intramural soccer to keep in touch with the sport and knows he will miss it.

He looks back on the practices.

“It’s quite a bit different than the rest of the players’ experience,” he said. “I think it’s more intense. There is a lot of diving and getting back up. It’s really fast. A lot reflex training.”